But I believe remembering him having one enthusiastic supporter,,, was it Jonathan?

I ****ing hate Williams so much. I'm so glad that he's playing himself off this team. Nice to see a guy who is a known ********* play himself out of the minors.

__________________

"Of course giving Sather cap space is like giving teenagers whiskey and car keys." - SBOB"Watching Sather build a team is like watching a blind man with no fingers trying to put together an elaborate puzzle." - Shadowtron
"Used to be only Twinkies and cockroaches could survive a nuke. I'd add Habs to that. I'm convinced the CH stands for Club du Hypocrisy." - Gee Wally

It's still early. Zuke will come around eventually... He's too good and smart not to do so.

Its not the easiest thing to come down to the AHL, for someone new to a team et c.

I saw a lot of Immonens first games in the AHL. I don't think he struggled at all with the smaller ice or NA game; but in HFD he, as a typical playmaking center, passed the puck and sought out open ice and tried to set up something. But early on, he never got the puck back once he moved it. He struggled a lot on that team, and in a sense he had a easier job since he basically was the NR 1C by default on the team we had back then. I think he played with Giroux and Wiseman or something like that, and it were pretty apparant that those two wasn't intending to go out of their way to get Immonen involved in the game.

I don't think its remarkable, or strange at all. The AHL is a development league and many of the guys down there are competing with each other. After a while, things will sort out et c. But for a guy who is used to have the puck a lot, and want to have a part of the development of most plays et c -- its tough to play with guys who aren't looking for you, or almost are doing the opposite of that in some situations at least.

Great feature on McDonagh and Stepan by Bruce Berlet on the Wolf Pack web site:

Quote:

When Wolf Pack rookie defenseman Ryan McDonagh was among the final cuts of the New York Rangers, it marked the first time that he wouldn’t be playing with center Derek Stepan in three years.

McDonagh and Stepan led the University of Wisconsin to the NCAA championship game in April, losing 5-0 to Boston College, whose top player is Chris Kreider, the Rangers’ top-ranked prospect.

In June and early July, the Badgers teammates opted to leave Wisconsin after their junior (McDonagh) and sophomore (Stepan) years. It was an especially difficult divorce after they had been roommates during training camp, with Stepan helping McDonagh pack his bags for Hartford.

But they have remained in touch, notably Saturday night when McDonagh was among several players to text-message or email Stepan after he became only the fourth player in NHL history to score a hat trick in his debut in a 6-3 victory over the Buffalo Sabres. McDonagh sent his text messages of congratulations after making his pro debut in a 4-2 victory over the Charlotte Checkers.

“We text and phone each other pretty much every day,” said McDonagh, a first-round pick (12th overall) of the Montreal Canadiens in 2007. “I told him, ‘Way to make history.’ It’s pretty awesome for him, and the coolest thing was his mom and sister drove all the way from Minnesota. It’s just incredible and a credit to him. He made the big decision to leave school early. There were people saying he wasn’t ready and that he should have stayed, but I think he’s playing with a real chip on his shoulder.”

Bruce also notes that Nightingale has a foot infection and that Barbara Underwood, the Canadian figure skater who helped Boyle with his skating this summer, is going to be working with all the guys on the Pack.